Girl left with Isaac was violent toward other kids, doctor testifies
Girl left with Isaac was violent toward other kids, doctor testifies
June 11, 2008
Jack Kresnak
Free Press
Charlsie Adams-Rogers' young adopted daughter was the focus of most of the morning testimony today in her mother's manslaughter trial in Wayne County Circuit Court.
Adams-Rogers, a former foster mother with the Lula Belle Stewart Center in Detroit, is charged with involuntary manslaughter and child abuse in the Aug. 16, 2006, beating death of 2-year-old Isaac Lethbridge, who was in foster care in her home.
A Kingswood Hospital psychiatrist who treated Adams-Rogers' now-13-year-old daughter in May 2003 testified that the girl had violent tendencies and was diagnosed with attention deficit disorder. The psychiatrist, Dr. Concepcion Ty-Ancoy, said it is possible the girl also had bipolar disorder. She also said she prescribed three medications for the girl to continue taking after she left the psychiatric hospital for children.
Ty-Ancoy said that the girl was assaultive toward other children and sexually acted out, and never admitted that her inappropriate touching was improper.
Adams-Rogers has said the girl injured Isaac when playfully tossing him onto a mattress.
The girl's biological sister, Leanthea Jones, testified that the girl was not violent and was not taking medication last year when Isaac and his now-4-year-old sister were in their home in northwest Detroit. During her testimony, Jones, 19, was combative with Assistant Prosecutor Lisa Lindsey and was cautioned several times by Judge Vera Massey Jones to just answer the questions.
Jones admitted under questioning that she would lie to protect her sister and Adams-Rogers, her adoptive mother, and at one point, said that her motto is: "What goes on in our house stays in our house."
Jones described the events of Aug. 16, 2006, before she found Isaac unconscious and tried to revive him. Jones said Isaac, his sister, her sister and two other children were alone in Jones' bedroom for two hours unsupervised with a television playing so loudly that no one could hear what was going on.
Jones said she was in her mother's bedroom next door, also watching a loudly playing television.
Around 4 p.m., she said she was preparing to take a bath when she looked in her bedroom and found Isaac covered with a blanket in the hot room. She said she took off the blanket and went to open a window. That's when she noticed that Isaac was blue. She said she took him out to the hallway and started CPR as she called for her mother.
Contact JACK KRESNAK at 313-223-4544 or jkresnak@freepress.com.